[Clodfobble]

A California school district is being sued over its decision to punish a a seventh-grader...her younger sister, a sixth-grader named Sydni

Okay, so just so we're clear, the 7th-grader had been at the same school the previous year, and knew the dress code. The Tigger socks, while a lovely point for outrage, were not the only items that violated the code:

"a denim skirt, a brown shirt with a pink border, and long socks with pictures of Tigger."

All clothes will be plain (no pictures...
• COLORS – SOLID COLORS ONLY - Acceptable colors are [pink not included]...
• FABRICS – No jeans, denim, denim-looking,...

In fact everything she was wearing broke the rules. So this was a deliberate statement against the dress code, and she knew she'd be punished. Fine, she has a right to protest, but don't imagine she was suddenly dragged to the office with no idea what was happening.

If you believe that a school has a right to enforce a dress code at all, then it is up to them to determine what it is. Winnie the Pooh may be harmless... but many branded or character-driven items are not. They are indicative of gangs, cliques, socioeconomic status, and more. The school cannot spend all day listing precisely what is and is not acceptable.

"Pink socks and two-tones are not a crime. That’s just nitpicking.”

In my high school, a similar rule was created my junior year: socks and shoelaces must be black or white, or brown only if they matched the shoes. End of story. A bunch of the suburban white kids protested by wearing rainbow shoelaces. Boo hoo hoo, their creative expression was being unnecessarily stifled. The rule wasn't for them. The rule was because there had been actual gang fights with actual weapons because students were showing their gang colors in their shoelaces.

Originally Posted by BigV

There are already rules and procedures to deal with disruptions.

Which is better, to deal with a disruption or defuse the situation before a disruption is ever allowed to happen? The school wouldn't bother to enforce rules without a good reason. Tigger and pink socks are not the reason, but they unfortunately fall into the same category as things which are, and the school cannot show favoritism.

Originally Posted by BigV

Creating a new category of disruption called "religious dress" positively invites conflict, competing opinions about what constitutes "religious dress", and enmity among the members of the community of learning--none of which contributes to learning.

I'm completely with you here, in the sense that it shouldn't be made special--the administrators, if they find it necessary for that particular school's population, should be able to make a rule like "nothing that covers the face" and be allowed to enforce it, both for sports caps and niqabs.